


Mari and Nath

by LotusGirl



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Children, F/M, Fluff, Young!, crying?, nath's mom's name is anat in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-02-02 17:37:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12731205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LotusGirl/pseuds/LotusGirl
Summary: Marinette's and Nathaniel's childhood. From the day they met, to the present.





	1. The Day They First Met

Age 4

It was a rather chilly January morning. Families came in and out of the Tom and Sabine Boulangier Patisserie bakery. Sabine worked at the front counter while her husband worked in the back, baking the pastries and breads. Meanwhile, their four-year-old daughter Mari played behind the counter next to her mother. Her plush cat doll "wandered" across the bakery floor and on Sabine's foot and across the wall of the counter. His name was Jacque.

She stopped when she saw someone had dropped a croissant on the floor across the room from behind the counter.

It was something she had to tell her mother about.

"Mama there's--"

Mama was laughing at something with someone. Who was she laughing with? The little girl peered behind the counter, expecting to need to look up to see the person. Grown-up's were very tall, after all. She did, in fact, see a pair of legs, but saw something else as well. It was a small person. Mari never saw another small person before, at least not one up close like this. They looked different somehow. Was it a boy? Mama and Papa told her about them.

He was looking at her from behind what can be assumed to be his mother. The thing that stuck out the most was his hair. It was a vibrant and saturated red and ended an inch or two above his shoulders. His eyes were like if you spilled blue and green paints on each other. Normally, that might look bad, especially if one overpowered the other. But it looked really pretty for him. He looked a little shy.

Mari smiled.

He looked like a lot of fun to play with!

Mama finally stopped talking with the lady for a few seconds and saw her daughter was smiling at the little boy holding the lady's hand. She got the message, even if it was directed at anyone in particular. "Say, Anat, would Nathaniel like to come over sometime and have a play date with Marinette," she asked the lady. The lady not-so-subtly pulled the boy in front of her so they were closer than before, saying," Why, I think that's a fantastic idea!" They both leaned over the counter, speaking in hushed voices so their children wouldn't hear, and when they separated, the lady said," It's a date! Come now, Nathaniel, Papa is waiting for us."

She pulled the boy with her, exiting the bakery.

Mari tugged on her mother's fingers, eager to know more.

"Mama, who was that?"

Her mother smiled, crouching down to speak to her.

"That was Nathaniel and his mom Anat," she explained. What an odd name. She tried to say it. "Na-nath-nata-- Nath?" It wasn't unexpected that a little girl wouldn't be able to pronounce a longer name like that. She could barely say her own. Mama petted her blue hair, saying," Yes, Marinette, Nath." "Will we see them again?" "We will! They'll come again tomorrow so you and Nath can play together." Those words made her smile. She'll get to play with the red-haired boy again.

She will make a friend.

* * *

 

Nath and Anat came as expected the next day.

Mari was so excited about seeing him again she didn't sleep much.

Not that she needed it, as she was practically a ball of lightning right now.

When she heard the doorbell ring, she bolted to the front door and was jumping in both excitement and impatience, waiting for Mama to open the door. Since she herself was too small to open it. The door was opened, and there he was, the red-haired boy standing in front of the apartment and holding his mother's hand. Either he wasn't as enthusiastic as Mari, or he just didn't show it, because he didn't dare look up from the ground nor was he jumpy and hyper. Was he not happy to see her, or was he happy on the inside?

Maybe he just didn't like that kind of person.

Maybe he preferred quiet and calm games.

She should adjust.

Mari composed herself, no more fidgeting or jumping or hyper smiles. Just _normal._ That's how she was a lot of the time, well, at least before she saw him. Mrs. Anat pulled her son into the dwelling, asking," Are you ready to play with Nathaniel today?" Remember, _calm._ She smiled and nodded. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his head lift ever so slightly. Was that good? Hopefully it was!

Mama and Anat whispered something to each other, and while they did, Nath looked up at her.

She wanted to wave to him, but didn't.

Why?

She didn't know.

They stopped whispering and took them to the next room. There was some paper and crayons waiting for the two children. The expression on Mama's and Anat's faces said, _now start bonding!_ When Mari finally turned her attention back to their play date, she saw Nath was already coloring. _I should color too._ For several minutes, the only sound present was the light flapping of the paper and the movement of the crayons on the paper. It was terribly awkward. She wanted to talk to him.

But he clearly wasn't going to respond to just any old conversation starter.

At least normally.

So Mari scooted a little closer to him and took a gander at what he was drawing.

He was drawing her.

It was cute. The outline of her hair was done in black, and a highlight with the blue crayon. Her eyes were big and circular, and had pink cheeks. The picture was very simple, but could be considered well done for a child. She couldn't help but say," Wow, your drawing looks so nice!" Nath didn't realize she was right next to him, and jumped at her sudden statement, but after processing the compliment, he smiled. He had a nice smile. "T-Thank you. . . I-I re-really like d-drawing. . .," he said, looking down at his piece.

"Really? That's amazing!"

"W-Well, your's is pretty good t-too."

Her picture of a cat was okay, but it wasn't as good as his.

They were engaged in conversation.

Now was a perfect time to ask questions.

"Why didn't you look up before," she asked. Nath seemed to be avoiding eye contact, just a little. He responded softly," I-I'm not good a-a-at talking to n-new people. . . B-But you're r-really n-nice to t-talk to!" Aww, he liked her! He liked _talking_ to her, despite appearing to have quite the stutter. She smiled knowing that. Mari leaned in close to him, her head pressed up against his shoulder, saying," I really like talking to you, too!"

Nath let his head rest on hers, and when their parents found them a while later, they had fallen asleep on each other.


	2. Playing Pretend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fun game in the snow.

Age 4

Powdery white snow covered the ground as the sun shined through the thin fluffy clouds.

Just as most children did, Mari and Nath enjoyed playing in the snow. It's been several weeks since their parents set them up on their first play date, and since then, they were practically attached at the waist. They loved playing together, and loved learning more about the other a little bit everyday. Some days, perhaps if the weather was harsh, they would play quiet games indoors. But when it was nice out, such as today, they would play outside.

Their favorite game was playing pretend.

It ranged from superheroes, to knights and princesses, to being grown-ups.

Today, to any other person, they would look like they were playing tag. But to them, Mari was a super-villain hunting down the hero, Nath, who was hiding under the playground equipment. They often did heroes this way, with Mari as the bad guy and Nath as the good guy. When he offered to be the villain because he wanted it to be fair, she declined. She liked being the evil one. Besides, it meant she got to chase him in the heat of "battle".

As she walked near the slide, unknowing, he covered his mouth to keep from giggling.

Like a predator, he silently and steadily crept along the snow, watching her move through the playground.

Nath got closer and closer to her, remembering to keep a distance. _Any moment now. . ._ Mari stopped walking, and he had a brief moment of panic. Oh no, does she know I'm here?! But she just eyeballed the area, and it was the perfect time to pounce. He jumped, tackling her into the ground. They turned over each other, both of them getting smothered into the cold and fluffy snow. She kicked him off, and they separated.

The two children were in a stand off.

They grinned mischievously at their opponent.

In their eyes, they were having a life-or-death battle between a great hero and a super-villain.

Mari exclaimed," You're barely a hero, Super Nath! You'll never defeat me!"

He responded," Good always conquers bad, Madame Mari!"

The red-haired boy scooped up some snow and threw it as hard as he could at her, hitting her in the shoulder. That one action was the start of an all-out snowball war. While Mari had taken shelter behind a snow fort, Nath had built his own just in front of the stair case for the play ground. He had done it that way so he could aim at her from a higher angle. Balls of snow flew through the air, hitting more than just each other. The forts, the playground, a tree, the occasional person. All victims of their ruthless battle of good versus evil.

Only a few minutes of this war passed, but to them, it's been years between people.

He needed to win, but so did she.

He needed to take a risk.

For the "people" he was protecting.

Nath scooped up a big pile of snow in his arms, and waited until Mari wasn't looking. Then, he ran as fast as he could, and dropped it all on her head, falling after the transfer. She was covered in powdery snow and took a minute or two to realize what just happened. Mari giggled and brushed the snow off her head and shoulders, shaking it off. "Well done, my enemy. You may have won this time, but I'll win next time," she proclaimed. Nath shook her hand, saying," I doubt that, but I'll take your word for it."

She stopped, staring.

"W-Wha--"

"Don't move."

Her hand was brought close to his head. "There's a ladybug on you," she said. Very softly, he responded," People say they're good luck." Mari swatted the insect off of him. While doing that, she remembered something her mama said. _"You know, if a ladybug lands on you, you'll get married," Mama had said when the aforementioned beetle flew inside the house and landed on the flowers they had just placed down on the table_. At the time, she wondered why it was left up to a tiny little bug on whether or not people should get married.

But now, she wondered when a ladybug would land on her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you get the gist in this chapter, you get brownie points.


	3. A Paper Marriage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pretend wedding and some future plans.

Age 4 (nearing 5)

"A marriage registration form?"

Mama leaned over the coffee table, looking at the paper that was in the possession of the two children. She called to Mrs. Kurtzberg," Anat, where did you find this?" Mrs. Anat was washing the dishes, and responded," I found it while cleaning out the attic, so I thought I'd give it to the kids." Well, it would be a waste to just throw it out. Besides, they wouldn't mind discovering they got married as children when they were older, right?

Mari glanced at the paper, saying," I can't read it. Mama, can you?"

She pointed to a spot on the paper. "This is where you put the wife's name, and next to it, you put the husband's name." They looked bewildered. Oh yes, they don't know what those are yet. Mama explained," The wife would be you, Marinette, and Nathaniel, you would be the husband. So you put your names in those spots!" Mari picked up her red crayon and scratched her name into the space provided. It wasn't the best penmanship, but it was legible. She was grateful that Mama and Papa taught her how to write it. Nath just wrote "N. XXX" where his name would be. Interesting that he didn't know how to write his name. Did he only write X's previous to knowing the first letter to Nath?

"Next you put the day you were born and how old you are."

That wasn't quite as hard. She saw numbers every day, in Mama's and Papa's cafe, in the store, and above doors. Looking over at Nath, he drew a little picture for the month and numbers for the date and age. The next space was for their job. "But we don't have jobs," Mari said after her mama read it out loud. How were they supposed to fill in something they didn't have? "Well, what do you want to be when you grow up," she asked. They thought about it for a bit of time.

"I-I really want to be an artist," Nath responded rather quietly.

Mari thought five seconds longer than he did.

She had a big smile when she got her answer.

"I want to be a princess!"

Of course, Mama knew "princess" wasn't exactly a career, but that didn't mean she was going to tell her daughter that. Besides, she looked so happy about it. Nath looked very intriuged by her choice, asking," Really?" She nodded and drew something on her half of the paper. It was a drawing of herself, wearing what could only be defined as a pink fairy princess wedding dress, wearing a little crown and little pink shoes. "When I grow up, I'm going to be a princess and marry a red prince and live in a castle made of sugar!"

Truly a four-year-old's dream. What did she mean by "red prince"? He felt the need to ask, "Who is the prince?" She giggled and poked his cheek. _You're the prince!_ For a moment, Mari thought she saw him blush and smile. Nath used his red crayon to draw a picture next to her's. It was himself, but it most certainly wasn't a prince. It was Super-Nath. "I'll be your hero," he said as he colored in the spiked hair. "Madame Mari will become a princess when she grows up, and Super-Nath saves her from the dragon!"

Mama smiled as she watched the two children discuss their "future".

They wanted to get married for real when they were older, even if one of them was a princess and the other one was an artist who saves her.

Seeing such innocent young love was heartwarming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter for a short idea.
> 
> I like the idea of Marinette wanting to be a princess and them signing a marriage form as children.


	4. Freezing Outside, Warming Inside

Age 4 (Nearing 5)

As it was once said, there are two types of childhood friends. The type who met each other in elementary school, and the type who've known each other for so long, there's photos of them taking a bath together when they were little tots. Mari and Nath are somewhere in between.

The outside world's temperature was dropping. It was snowing so much, the world looked plain white. According to the man on the television, a blizzard was coming over Paris. Many homes lost electricity at this point, but thankfully, the Dupain-Cheng dwelling had not. Judging from the sharp tapping sound at the window, there was hail as well. The Kurtzbergs had taken refuge in their friends' home, but unfortunately, Papa Kurtzberg had gotten stuck uptown at work.

So as Anat was trying to get a hold of her husband, Mari brushed the snow off of her red-haired friend's person.

Mama peered out the window, saying," I sure hope he's okay. . ." At this point, most of the snow from Nath was gone. Thank goodness, too, because that melting on the poor boy would've froze him. They finally heard the phone pick up. "What, yes? Honey?" The children watched in curiosity as a conversation arose between Anat and Mr. Kurtzberg. About three minutes later, she hung up and breathed a sigh of relief. Nath squeaked," Is Papa okay?" It amazed Mari that anyone could hear him sometimes.

"Yes, Papa is okay, but he won't come back tonight because of the snow."

At first, he looked a little sad, and Mari ruffled his hair, cheering him up.

Then he sneezed.

"Aww, you sneeze like a kitten," the dark-haired girl giggled as she helped take his coat off. Mama took the children's hands, saying," I'm going to put these two in the bath." Anat gave her silent approval as she took them away. The two of them were still quite young, so most people would believe neither of them would remember this. Their mothers were close friends, and had been so for a long time, and thus, doing this was normal for them. The closeness of them would rub off on their children.

\-----

Pretty white soap bubbles floating from the bathtub. They seemed to stick to things rather easily, no? They could be a challenge to remove, as well. Quite a mysterious substance it is! Transparent, shaped like a ball, and came in all sizes. If examined closely, one could see rainbows and rivers in the bubbles. But one moment they're there, and the next, they've popped. Beautiful, mysterious, fragile, clingy. Four words to describe soap bubbles at their finest.

In a four-year-old's words, they're pretty, magical, breakable, and needy.

But, sadly, they could burn a man's eyes with their soapy wonder. That's why Mari and Nath kept their eyes shut as Mama washed their hair. She cracked one eye open to peek over at her friend. From the way he jerked as Mama scrubbed at his scalp, someone would think she was being rough with him. Odd, considering Mari didn't feel much during her turn. Maybe he was just really sensitive. His hair looked like peppermint from the natural red color and the soapy white mixing. He flinched when a voice called from the other room. It was hard to make out, but it sounded like Papa calling for help with something. Mama stood up and said," Will you two be alright here by yourselves?" Mari nodded, but the minute she stepped out of the room, she dunked Nath's head under the water for a split second.

He returned the favor by dunking her.

_I bet it would make Mama happy if we got clean without her here,_ Mari thought.

Most people can't reach their backs so it would take another person to get to it.

So she grabbed a sponge and started soaping his back. For a moment, he was _really confused_. But Mari wasn't hurting him, so it was okay. Once she was sure the soap had reached full coverage, they switched. Nath rinsed the sponge of the soap and squeezed the water out. Mama came back minutes later with towels. Mari was hoping for some verbal praise, but she only smiled as she picked them out of the tub. Both of them were wrapped up to dry off. As Mama dried her dark hair, she saw Nath staring at her from behind Mama. His face was blank yet full of emotions at the same time. She wondered why. Soon after, they would have to be put to bed. Mari could wear her own jammies, but Nath, due to their current circumstances, had to borrow a pair of hers. This wasn't too problematic as they were the same size.

Although Nath was a tad uncomfortable wearing something that belongs to someone else.

Hand in hand, they ventured together out of the bathroom and to the rest of the apartment.

Her eyes wandered to the windows. The world outside was fluffy and white. Who knew something so pretty and pure could be so harmful and cold? Just like the bubbles. When she wasn't paying attention, he whispered under his breath," The prettiest things can be the most dangerous if we're not careful." What did he mean? Surely, he was meaning the bubbles and the snow but there was something else. Perhaps it will make more sense later.

But right now there were more pressing matters.

"Kids, it's getting late. You two should be getting to bed."

Anat and Mama lead both of them to the bedroom. "But what about Papa," Nath asked. She smiled at him and answered," You will see him in the morning. But it's important now to get some sleep." The two of them crawled into the bed. At this time, Mari's bed was on the floor, as her parents feared her falling and getting hurt. What a clumsy girl. Their mothers had wished for a good night's sleep and kissed their foreheads. Once they left, however, Nath whispered another peculiar statement. "The icy snow isn't strong enough to break the roof, but it still leaves it hurt."

Nath was such a strange boy.

Of course the ice wasn't going to break the roof. Why was he saying it out loud like that?

He curled up next to Mari and snuggled against her.

She did the same.

Their dreams became flooded with children's fantasies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Throughout the time of writing this chapter, I kept pondering what would be considered crossing the line and entering child romance\other crap region.


End file.
